Hull owner Assam Allam would be wise to avoid name change

ASSAM ALLAM is not a bad man. The Hull City chairman and owner gave £1 million to a local hospital last week.

Assam Allam's insistence at changing Hull's name is not in keeping with his normal character [GETTY]

Castle Hill Hospital will now be able to complete a new building with a scanner to enable better diagnosis of cancer, heart disease and dementia.

So, no, Allam is not a bad man. A friend of mine spent some time with him recently and concluded that he is a very decent person.

In the increasingly divisive and heated argument about the name of the football club, he has been portrayed by some as a pantomime villain, but such a two-dimensional view of him is wrong.

The fans protesting about his plan to rebrand the club as Hull Tigers understand this and want no part of the demonising that has occurred on message boards and elsewhere.

But, for all his philanthropy, Allam has not given money to the football club.

He has lent them money.

A lot of it.

More than £74m, and that was before manager Steve Bruce spent £14m on two strikers this month.

He has lent the money to the club from his holding company Allamhouse, which owns the football club, the stadium and his engineering company Allam Marine. The football club’s losses are set against the huge profit the marine engineering firm makes.

It is still an extraordinary amount of money which he has put at Bruce’s disposal. But it is all in loans, not gifts. Allam could take his money back.

That is why the acrimonious row about the club’s name is so fraught with danger - and the argument reaches a crucial stage on Friday.

That is when the No to Hull Tigers protest group submit evidence to the FA about their belief that the club should keep its full name: Hull City AFC. The “AFC” bit is a mark that this is an Association Football Club in a Rugby League area.

And the ‘City” bit is important because, 116 years ago, the folk of the area fought hard for city status.

Allam knows that he is upsetting the Hull faithful with his plans for the club [ACTION]

If the FA agree with the fans, Allam says he will quit the club “within 24 hours”.

On BBC radio 5 Live at the weekend, former Labour Deputy Prime Minister Lord (John) Prescott told listeners that if Allam walks, the club will be unsustainable.

I was on the Sportsweek show with him, and pointed out that Prescott is a director of Hull Kingston Rovers rugby league club, and they’ve had £1m of Allam’s money.

You can see why his Lordship has sided with Allam.

The City Council don’t want to upset him either, so although the FA asked them their view on the name-change, the council wrote back last week saying, more or less: “It’s nothing to do with us.” Allam doesn’t like people disagreeing with him, you see.

He told the local Hull Daily Mail: “I don’t allow questioning of this (the name change). If I am allowing that, I might as well let people come and run my company. No. No question is entertained about how I run my business or my club.”

That intransigence is where this generous, decent man shows his flaw. It is also the reason some are wavering about the fight to preserve the club’s historic name.

But to understand the issue you need ask yourself just one question: How would you feel if it were your club? That is all the FA board need ask themselves.

Once they have done that, they must draw a line, put down a marker – or whatever metaphor you like. They must decide that fans have an emotional stake in their club’s history which should not be over-ruled because of the intimidatory threats of the owner.

You see, although the man at the heart of this row is not two-dimensional, the issue is completely clear-cut. The name change is unnecessary and unjustifiable. It’s just wrong.

Adam Johnson is enjoying his football again after being shackled by Di Canio [AFP/GETTY]

Before Paulo Di Canio’s first victory as Sunderland manager, he called Adam Johnson over to the technical area.

The manager had used the entire week to work with individual players, and had made specific points in his pre-match team-talk – yet there he was, on the sideline at St James’ Park, Newcastle, imperiously beckoning Johnson over and then theatrically whispering in his ear.

It looked an act for the benefit of the cameras and the away fans. It was all about Di Canio. Look at me. I am a master tactician.

Johnson set up one goal and scored the other at the weekend and so has been involved in the last six scored by Sunderland, under the tutelage of Di Canio’s replacement, Gus Poyet.

The current manager has encouraged his player to get forward more and told team-mates to give the ball to Johnson in that final third, so that he can do his damage.

Poyet has made it all about Johnson.

The departure of Cortese has left a question mark over the direction Southampton are moving in [GETTY]

Southampton's manager didn’t walk out, the team didn’t lose and the new chairperson insisted there will be no big exodus of players.

So what was all the fuss about executive chairman Nicola Cortese quitting and being replaced by owner Katharina Liebherr?

Well, Cortese wanted to build the club and Liebherr wants to sell it.

Despite the appearance of business as usual, the fundamentals have changed at St Mary’s.

Moyes must continue to try and get the best out of a squad that won the title last season [GETTY]

David Moyes cannot criticise his squad.

It was bequeathed to him by Sir Alex Ferguson, and you can’t criticise Fergie at Manchester United.

Moyes cannot set out his team to contain and to chisel out points. You can’t do that at United.

And in a World Cup season, there is the suspicion that Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie have their eyes on Brazil when considering whether they will risk injury by playing for United.

So Moyes must soldier on, trying to play with elan without his two top talents and unable to say: “This squad is six players short of a decent side.”